Harry Potter and the Nature of Magic
by MartinDC
Summary: Harry's life after defeating Voldemort the second time was perfect until he found out it was all a lie. He is then locked up 'for his own good' and while there comes up with a plan to change everything about his life.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Universe, that belongs to Ms. Rowling. I am just letting my imagination run amuck for a while.

AN: I have read several dozen stories where Harry travels back in time to change things. Some run smoothly, some run into problems, but it seems that most of them run along the same lines, of change a few things, save the world from a dark and terrible fate. I have enjoyed each and every one of these stories, and they have made me want to write my own. I didn't want to fall into the same trap of, Harry goes back, Harry breaks free, Harry goes shopping story lines, so I have decided to write a story that comes out of left field.

This story will be written solely from Harry's point of view, so we will not get an in depth look at anyone else's motivations and thoughts. I will try and explain everything in conversation at some point, but some things that may cause confusion may take a while to explain. Please be patient with me I will try and fill all the holes by the end of the story.

I am going to try and lay the foundation of this story pretty quickly, then there will be a time skip to Hogwarts. From there the story will proceed.

Don

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

-DCM-

Harry sat in a spartan room deep in the Department of Mysteries with his eyes closed lost in thought. He had been here in this room for almost 13 years, but he hadn't always lived like this. He had once been married to the girl of his dreams. He had once been a hero, worshiped and adored. He had once been rich and famous. But not anymore. Now he was relegated to a chapter of history, a story to be told to children, forgotten by the rest of society. A sometimes fond, sometimes bitter memory to those who knew him. His marriage had been a potion induced sham. The girl of his dreams and his harpy-in-law, err…mother-in-law had systematically drained his families' fortune, sold his family's properties to his in laws for almost nothing, and then laughed when finally confronted with it. The ensuing divorce had been nasty and his name was drug through the mud by every paper in Britain. Allegations of abuse, anger and other issues splashed with his picture were shown to the public every day. By the time it was over, he was left almost knutless, with the new moniker 'the-hero-who-fell-from-grace'.

As painful as that was, it wasn't the worst. The worst had been his friends, who had either turned away from him in shame, or had been in on the theft from a very early time. Ron had used a large portion of Harry's stolen money and bought the Chuddley Cannons, Hermione had stolen all the tomes, books and scrolls from the Potter and Black families and claimed it was for Harry's own good. Even now whenever he saw here, she pestered him for access to the Potter and Black grimoires. Each time, Harry simply looked at her and turned away. At least that small bit of knowledge was kept from her.

Harry had decided he had only himself to blame. He had blissfully turned over management of his estate to his wife. He hadn't suspected anything. It was only after a few years, when Ginny had been on the road with the Quidditch team she was on, The Holly Head Harpies, that things became clearer to him, and he had begun to suspect something wasn't right. He had tried to talk to Ron about it, and the next thing he knew, he was confronted with an angry Ginny and her harridan mother Molly. After an epic argument, Ginny had slammed a drink down in front of him and told him to drink, then they would talk about things in a more rational frame of mind. Harry had picked up the drink and noticed a small smirk on Molly's face. It was the smirk that had connected the dots in Harry's mind and set things in motion to make him a pariah.

The only thing that the Weasleys hadn't taken from him was what was left in a trust account Harry had set up for their future children. It wasn't much, but it would get him by. He had been fired from his job as an auror, and he didn't seem to care all that much, so he packed a small trunk with his things, withdrew the money from the trust, and left England.

He had been gone almost five years, traveling from place to place, doing odd jobs, living very fugally, and under the radar when he happened across a small dusty second hand book shop off an alley in a nameless town in Greece. Harry had collected a few very rare tomes on magic in his travels, most of them found in out of the way places such as this. He had come across a small worn book while in the shop. It was extremely thin, no more than 20 pages in length. And the cover was scuffed and tattered. The title of the book read "The Nature of Magic". Intrigued, Harry had opened the book and started to read the first page. After the first paragraph, he knew he needed to by the book. He walked up to the counter to pay for it.

"You can read this language?" The old shop owner had asked with a very surprised look.

"Well yea, it is in English." Harry was confused at the question.

"It is no English, is nothing but scribbles…"

Harry decided the man was a bit nutters, so he purchased the book and left the shop. He spent the next several months slowly reading and studying the book. Many times sitting in a chair pondering the words he had read long into the night.

It was just over a year later that Harry had received a letter asking him to come back to England from the Ministry. It seemed there was a new dark Lord running around, and they were asking for his help. In recompense, they would help him clean up his name and pay him a rather large stipend as a 'consultant'. Harry knew this meant they just wanted the problem to go away, and that they wanted him to take care of it, because they couldn't be bothered to leave the sheep pen and do it themselves. Even though he knew it was a mistake, he couldn't resist the galleons and returned to England.

The job itself was ridiculously easy. Harry had stood before the full Wizengamot as they gave him the details of the problem. It was easier than he expected to ignore Percy Weasley sitting in the Potter box, what surprised him was Hermione sitting at his side. Harry brushed the thoughts aside as unimportant and focused on his task. He was to be paid one million galleons for ridding England of this latest threat to peace.

Due to his in depth study of magic, and of the things he had learned from the book, Harry knew it would take but a mere moment to accomplish the task. He had raised his hand and simply snapped his fingers. Before him appeared three very surprised and frightened wizards. Another snap of his fingers and they were disarmed and tied up for the aurors.

"There you go, where's my money?" Harry simply looked at the assembly before him with a bland expression on his face. He had been told to return in an hour and he would be paid. When he had, it hadn't been money that was waiting for him, but an ambush in the hall that caught him by surprise. He had been restrained in magic dampening restraints and cast into a very heavily warded cell after being stripped of all his possessions.

Hermione had been the unspeakable assigned to study Harry, and when she had first approached him and broached the topic of his power, Harry had simply laughed at her. He found it amusing how she didn't like it when someone knew something she didn't. She had gotten quite mad at him and told him he was simply being held for his own good, and if he was going to be difficult, then his stay would be longer. Harry had known then, just as he knew now, that they had no intention of ever letting him go. He was simply too powerful. She had asked about the strange little book that no one could read, but he had refused to speak to her after that. She had tried legilimens on him, but had been unable to even find Harry's mind, let alone break into it.

So here Harry sat. The first couple years he had been angry. At the Ministry for lying to him, at the Weasleys for stealing from him, but mostly at himself for falling into their trap. After a couple years he decided it wasn't such a bad thing. He was fed three meals a day, had a warm clean bed to sleep in, and all the time he wanted to sit and ponder on the book he had found. He had long since memorized it, and would often pour over its pages in his mind. He did have to put up with Hermione or someone else coming into his cell twice a week to either try and question him, or read his mind. Everyone that came to see him left more frustrated than when they arrived.

But today was different. Harry had come up with a plan. One that would set him free, and allow him to change everything that had gone wrong. If his plan failed, well then, at least he would be avenged. He had vanished everything in his cell, and even the useless restraints they had placed him in. He had actually managed to nullify the restraints several years ago, but kept them on for appearances.

As soon as Hermione had walked into his cell she had been pinned to the wall, about three feet up. She was shocked and more than a little afraid. She saw Harry slowly stand and turn to look at her. With a wave of his hand Harry made the door disappear.

"Ha…Harry? What are you doing?"

"Paybacks Hermi…" Hermione was so shocked she didn't even berate Harry for using her hated nick name. She watched in fascination as Harry rose about a foot in the air, and with another wave of his hand an extremely complex circle of runes started drawing themselves into the floor. She did her best to understand their intent, but there were literally thousands of runes being drawn.

After almost twenty minutes of the runes being drawn they were finally competed, with Harry floating in the middle of a circle. When they were done Harry started taking off his clothes.

Hermione's eyes suddenly got very wide. "Don't flatter yourself Granger." Harry stood in only a pair of shorts. He floated over to Hermione and looked at her eyes intently.

"What are you doing?" Hermione's voice shook with more than a little fear.

"I have to know how far back you were in on the plot to ruin me." Hermione hastily tried to bring up her mental shields, but it was too little too late. Harry simply walked right through her defenses as if they weren't there. After less than five minutes he floated back with a disappointed look. "That far back? The troll was a set up?"

Hermione was angry. He had humiliated her, and then stolen all her memories without any effort at all. But it was too late, the plan was completed, and Harry was nothing anymore and could do nothing to her.

"Yes that far back! It was for your own good. You needed guidance, and that was me and Ron! Dumbledore told me it was for the greater good!" Hermione's eyes were shining with fanaticism.

"Still under the compulsion and loyalty spells I see." Harry looked at her with disgust and floated back to the center of the circle.

"There is nothing you can do about it now. You're just making things harder on yourself Harry."

"Are you sure there is nothing that can be done about it now Hermi?" Harry took off the shorts he had on and now floated naked in the middle of the circle. The runes on the floor started glowing. Once they were charged they all lifted off the floor and wrapped themselves around Harry in a tight circle bubble.

Hermione was able to recognize enough of the runes to realize what he was trying to do. "No Harry! Time travel is illegal! You could create a paradox or destroy reality!"

Harry smirked at her. "At this point, I don't care if it is illegal. And the plan isn't to create a paradox; it is to erase this reality." Harry snapped his fingers and the runes glowed even brighter. They expanded and filled the room as they became even more powerful. Then just when Hermione was about to turn away because it was so bright, they all collapsed on Harry, and he and the runes disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Hermione was shocked for a moment, and then started to smirk. Nothing had changed, he had failed! She gave a small laugh. It was quickly choked off when the walls started to fade slowly away. Hermione looked around in a panic and then down at her feet, they were also fading away_. 'Oh No! He did it!' _Her feet had become translucent, and she knew soon she would be gone. Her last thought before she completely faded away _was 'I wonder what type of person I will turn out to be this time?'_ and then she was no more.

-DCM-

Harry came to consciousness slowly and took a deep breath. His body hurt, which was good. It hurt more than just the 'I just did a huge amount of magic' sore. His back and legs were sore, and his left arm was numb and swollen. He couldn't open one eye, and he knew he had a busted lip. But this was good. This meant that he had come back to precisely where he wanted to be. Back to the time on his sixth birthday when his uncle had beaten him almost to death. Harry had decided that this is where the retribution would start.

Harry slowly lifted his right hand and with a snap of his fingers, felt magic wash over him and start healing his injuries. It only took a few moments until all of the pain subsided, and he felt much better. He took a quick look around and saw that he was locked in his cupboard, right where he expected to be. He waited a few minutes to make sure no one had heard anything then set to work. He first silenced the small room, and set an anti-magic detection ward around it, he then expanded it slightly to give himself some room to work.

When he had enough room, he took off his the shirt he was wearing and with a wave of his hand the blood that was on the shirt floated up in the air. Harry concentrated hard, and the blood seemed to expand and take the shape of a six year old Harry Potter. After a few more minutes, Harry made the simulacrum float over to his thin mattress and lay down on it. Harry took a deep breath in preparation for what he knew would be a hard and painful part of his escape. Then with another snap of his fingers and a grimace he focused his magic on the scar in his forehead. After several long and painful minutes, black ooze started to seep out of the scar. Harry leaned over the simulacrum and let the ooze drip down from his forehead and onto its forehead. Harry gave another great push with his magic, and with a small scream, the gunk let go of his head and dripped down onto the fake Harry, where it was absorbed.

Harry watched with a small smile of satisfaction as a lightning bolt shaped scar appeared on its forehead, in the same spot Harry's had been. Harry finished preparing the simulacrum by making sure it had all the same tell-tale signs of injury as he had had. He then wiped his hand down in front of himself and gathered all the trace spells, blocks, and links to magical devises that had been placed on him, and transferred them to the body lying before him. Then with a wry grin he 'stepped' into the living room of his relatives' home.

He looked around in disgust at the room he was in for a moment. He then set a spell to go off in half an hour. The spell itself would cause a fire to start in their living room. The fire wouldn't burn their house down, in fact it would cause very little damage, but it would certainly cause a lot of smoke. And with it, cause the neighbors to call the fire department and the police. Upon inspection they would find a locked cupboard, and within the cupboard they would find one dead Harry Potter. With that discovery, the wizarding world would lose their savior, hero and punching bag.

Harry smiled and 'stepped' and appeared within the Potter Family vault. He snapped his fingers and a trunk that was further in the vault, flew over to Harry. He opened it and saw that it was full of clothes. He took them all out and with another snap of his fingers, started making changes to the trunk. It went from a simple trunk to a trunk with one giant room inside. The room inside was easily three times the size of the vault.

When he was done, Harry spoke out load "I, Harry James Potter, reclaim all items barrowed or stolen from the house of Potter." With a sharp crack a mountain of gold, gems, books and items appeared in the vault. Much to Harry's amusement there also appeared his father's invisibility cloak, and a very familiar pensive. A few seconds later a trunk appeared in an explosion of flames. The trunk was undamaged except for some slight charring on the outside. Harry was also very surprised when three house elves appeared and began looking around wildly.

"Master Harry!" The female elf wrapped her arms around Harry and hugged him tight. "Yous has freed Mipsy from not-master!"

Harry had not expected this, but was secretly happy. "Hello Mipsy, I'm glad to meet you." Harry then looked at the other two elves. One was older but was smiling a large smile.

"I be Toby at Master Harry's service" The elf smiled an even wider smile.

Harry looked at the third elf. This one was very young, and looked really worried, and was wringing his hands. Harry looked closer, this elf looked very familiar. "Dobby?" Harry recognized his long lost friend. Harry quickly made his way over to Dobby and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. Harry was surprised at how much finding Dobby so quickly meant to him and had tears in his eyes.

"Master Harry remembers his Dobby?"

"Master Harry could never forget his Dobby." The little elf smiled and started crying as well. After a minute he let go of Dobby and looked at his elves. "I don't have time to explain everything about what's going on right now, but I promise to do so as soon as we get out of here, okay?"

All the elves nodded their heads affirmatively. "The short explanation is, we are emptying my vaults and running away. Away from London, and away from England. Do you guys want to come with me? Or do you want to stay and be free? I won't force you to come with me, but I would love to have you."

All three elves were extremely eager to come with Harry, and he had them bonded in short order.

"Okay, let's get this done." Harry again snapped his fingers and everything in the vault started flying into the trunk. Even with the help of the elves, it took almost 25 minutes, but finally everything from the vault had been moved into the giant room in the trunk. The three elves climbed into the trunk and Harry closed and shrank it and put it in his pocket. He then 'stepped' over to his trust vault and emptied it as well. Harry then 'stepped' back to his family vault, this time to the outside of it. He placed his hands on the door of the vault. "I, Harry James Potter, declare that all the Potter vaults be sealed." Then lacing his words with magic, he spoke the password "THERE IS NO MAGIC" Harry felt the magic in the vault door accept his command, and seal itself and then he 'stepped' away.

-DCM-

**5 Years later – Sept. 1****st**** 1991**

Harry sat in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts train pondering his decision to attend Hogwarts again. He had been out of the country and had established a new life and identity as Evan Jamison. He had also used his metamorph abilities to change how he looked. Gone was his messy black hair and tell-tale green eyes. In its place was light brown hair and vivid blue eyes. Harry had still needed glasses, but had gotten muggle contacts and then enchanted them himself. Also gone were any scars that he had as a younger boy. Now he looked like a healthy 11 year old boy. Even with all of these changes, and a new identity, Harry still was uncomfortable coming to Hogwarts, until he learned that Headmaster Dumbledore had died several years earlier in an explosion in the headmaster's office one summer. It was this knowledge, and his curiosity about how things would be different, that Harry decided to attend Hogwarts as Evan Jamison from Sydney Australia where he had been living for the last five years.

After he had left London, he had made his way to Sydney and established himself as a bit of and enchanter prodigy. Harry had discovered some extremely valuable and informative books on enchanting in the trunk that had appeared in a flash of fire in the vaults and had learned a great deal about enchanting. The offer had come from Hogwarts to attend as an apprentice in charms and transfiguration and ancient runes, to get his masteries to help with his enchanting, and after hammering out several details, he had accepted. He didn't really feel like he needed a mastery in these subjects to keep enchanting, but having them would help open doors for his enchanting business later on in life. Plus looking at things from different points of view would help him to not become stagnant in the way he thought about things.

For starters, he wouldn't be teaching any classes for the first couple years, as he felt he was too young to be taken seriously. He had agreed to help with the grading of homework, and with any practical demonstrations the teachers might need help with. Harry would also have his own quarters, and would not be sorted into any of the houses. It was also agreed that until he was older, he would not be assigned any patrols, and he wouldn't have the power to give or take house points or give detentions. But he was encouraged to report anything he saw as wrong to either Professor Flitwick, Professor Babbling, Professor Donte or Headmistress McGonagall. Harry wasn't sure how much of a childhood being an apprentice to three professors would allow him, but watching history unfold without Harry Potter or Albus Dumbledore would be interesting.

The door to the compartment slowly opened and two girls peeked inside. One was strawberry blonde, and the other was dishwater blonde. The strawberry blonde looked at Harry and asked in a shy voice "are these seats taken?"

"Not at all, please come in and sit." Harry replied.

The girls made their way in, and Harry jumped up and helped them put their trunks up in the overhead racks. After sitting back down, the girls introduced themselves. "I'm Susan Bones, and this is my friend Hannah Abbot." She held out her hand to shake Harry's hand.

"Evan Jamison. I'm please to meet you." Harry answered. Harry took her hand, and then placed a small kiss on the back of it. Susan blushed a deep shade of red and looked down quickly. Hannah held out her hand and Harry kissed the back of her hand as well. She smiled, but wasn't nearly as embarrassed as Susan had been.

"Are you a first year?" Susan asked when she finally found her voice.

"I'm actually going to Hogwarts to apprentice for my masteries in charms, transfiguration, and runes." Harry answered.

Both girls eyes were wide in surprise. "How old are you?"

"I'm eleven."

"Seriously?!" Harry nodded, fighting to keep a smile off his face. The girls looked at him for a minute, then Susan finally made a face and shook her head. "You're just having us on. No eleven year old is ready to go for his masteries."

Harry was about to refute this statement when the door was slammed open and a familiar bushy haired girl poked her hair in. "Have you guys seen a toad? Neville lost his?"

All three answered that no, they hadn't, and she closed the door and left. As she walked away, he saw a familiar blonde ponce and his two gorilla book ends look in, and then move on down the train. _'Some things never change' _Harry thought to himself.

The rest of the train ride was spent getting to know the girls in the compartment with him. He hadn't really talked to them much in his last life, and had decided to expand his friends list extensively this time. He was grateful for the chance to do it already. When they finally arrived at Hogsmeade, Harry and the girls disembarked from the train. The girls left to follow Hagrid to the boats, and Harry was met by Professor Flitwick.

"Mr. Jamison?" Professor Flitwick looked at Harry and held out his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you and welcome you to Hogwarts!" The man showed his excitement and was practically bouncing where he stood. "It has been long since Hogwarts had a prodigy, such as you, walk her halls."

"Thank you Professor. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Your reputation is extremely formidable, both in charms and in dueling." The diminutive professor smiled again.

"Please follow me, and we will get you up to the castle for the welcoming feast. It has been decided that you will sit at the head table for meals and feasts. We will of course present you to the students tonight at the welcoming feast, and explain that you are here as an apprentice and not as a normal student."

"Of course, Professor."

"Please Evan, in private call me Filius, as we will be working together for the next several years, and I am sure we will become close friends and colleagues, so let us dispense with formality and focus on learning. What do you say?"

Harry nodded in agreement, "I would like that Filius."

Harry and Professor Flitwick were soon entering the Great Hall and moving up to the head table. Several students looked at Harry in confusion, wondering if some little firstie had gotten in trouble already. There were a great many surprised faces when Harry took his seat between Professors Flitwick and Vector.

Harry spent the next several minutes looking out over the student body. He recognized many of the faces, some he hadn't seen since they had left Hogwarts the first time around. He saw Nymphadora Tonks at the Hufflepuff Table, her hair cycling between red and bubble gum pink. At the Ravenclaw table he spotted Cho Chang and Marieta Edgecomb whispering and looking at him. He finally let his gaze wonder over the Gryphindor table and spotted many people he recognized. Percy Weasley and the twins jumped out of the crowd, and with a sudden thought, Harry reminded himself to get the map from the twins before they had a chance to look at it. He wasn't sure how his name would show up, he had masked his magical signature after all, but he didn't want to take any chances.

Harry was still studying the students when Professor Sprout led the new first years into the hall and presented them to Headmistress McGonagall for sorting. Harry looked at the first years and spotted Susan and Hannah staring at them. He merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders at their wide eyed stare.

Harry didn't listen to the sorting hat's song very closely. Instead he fiddled with one of the buttons on his robes while waiting for the real sorting to begin.

"Abbot, Hannah." Hannah made her way to the stool and took a seat, while putting the tattered hat on her head.

"Hufflepuff!" came the call just a short time later.

"Bones, Susan." "Hufflepuff!" No surprises there. Harry watched as she put the hat on the stool, took a quick glance at him and then walked to the table to sit next to her friend.

The sorting continued with no surprises. Hermione and Neville both went to Gryphindor, and Draco went to Slytherin. Harry had about decided that nothing was going to change in the sorting this time around when a name was called that caught him completely by surprise and made his head snap up.

"Potter, Harry."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Universe. That belongs to Ms. Rowling. I am just letting my imagination run amuck for a while.

AN: I have read several dozen stories where Harry travels back in time to change things. Some run smoothly, some run into problems, but it seems that most of them run along the same lines, of change a few things, and save the world from a dark and terrible fate. I have enjoyed each and every one of these stories, and they have made me want to write my own. I didn't want to fall into the same trap of Harry goes back, Harry breaks free, and Harry goes shopping story lines, so I have decided to write a story that comes out of left field.

This story will be written solely from Harry's point of view, so we will not get an in depth look at anyone else's motivations and thoughts. I will try and explain everything in conversation at some point, but some things that may cause confusion will take a while to explain. Please be patient with me I will try and fill all the holes by the end of the story.

AN: I need to apologize to everyone. I had the next couple chapters written for this story and for Winter's Child as well, and stored on a flash drive along with a good amount of my school work from the last few years. Then like the almost brilliant person I am, I left the drive in the computer lab up on campus. Needless to say it was not turned in, and I was unable to find it. So I have had to re-write the chapters for both stories. I'd blame genetics, but we all know that would be a lie.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to point out that in this story, Voldemort is not main antagonist. In fact he is pretty much more of a side note and will be taken care of quickly with very little fanfare. The main plot goes off in a much different direction.

-DCM-

Harry watched in shock for as a young boy moved out from the back of the crowd of eleven year olds. The Great Hall had gone silent as everyone watched this new Harry push his way to the front of the group of first years. There he paused, as if for dramatic effect, and with a slightly puffed up chest, and a superior look on his face made his way towards the stool where Professor Sprout waited.

Harry took a close look at 'non-Harry' while his brain did a reboot and he tried to figure out just exactly what was going on. This non-Harry stood taller and looked much healthier than he had at eleven. His hair was still messy, in fact it was Potter messy, and he had the vivid green eyes of Lily Potter. The curse scar on his forehead stood out prominently, and Harry got the feeling it was on display for all the world to see. Non-Harry also wore clothes that were made of some of the finest materials available, and had on dragon hide boots. He still wore glasses, made of the same black round frames Harry had worn as a youngster, but Harry could tell they were new, and not the often broken and repaired with tape he had worn.

'He's an attention seeking, stuck up pillock!' Harry thought to himself as he watched non-Harry strut slowly to the stool while soaking up the attention he was receiving. A slow, evil smile graced Harry's lips for a brief moment before he stilled his features to a neutral expression. Just as non-Harry moved within a few feet of the stool, Harry snapped his fingers while they were surreptitiously hidden under the table.

Harry had to hide his smirk as non-Harry tripped and landed face down in front of the whole school. There was a startled gasp and then the hall was silent for several seconds, then several students giggled. At the Slytherin table, Draco and his goons were out-right laughing as non-Harry slowly picked himself up with as much dignity as he could muster and brushed off his robes.

"I seem to have tripped." He reached over and picked up the stool, while a surprised Professor Sprout picked up the fallen sorting hat, and handed it to the embarrassed student. Non-Harry sat on the stool, and put the battered and now disgruntled hat on his head. Harry watched the sorting in interest wondering where the imposter would be put.

He was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Hadn't his simulacrum been discovered? Had the hocrux Harry pushed out of himself been powerful enough to take over and animate it into a semblance of life? Or had someone took advantage of his death to steal his life? That one seemed most likely as it was well known the Potters were wealthy both politically and financially. Well, they had been financially, but Harry had emptied the Potter vaults and sealed them. So if it was someone pretending to be him, then they wouldn't have been able to access the family vaults and from the looks of the imposter, he obviously had money, or access to money. Harry decided he needed to figure out who or what the imposter was, then he would make a plan to deal with him in the best way possible.

Harry knew he would have to watch and observe non-Harry for a while before making his move. He still had Voldemort to deal with, but that should only take a few weekends to round up the pieces of Riddle's soul that were lying about, then he would make his move on Quirell, and get the main piece of his soul and place it in a special soul cube he had made, enchanted and protected so Tommy couldn't get out. When all of the pieces were contained in the cube, Harry planned to stop by the Department of Mysteries and simply toss the cube through the Veil of Death and be done with him. Then he could focus on unraveling the mystery that was non-Harry.

Harry turned his attention back to the sorting and noticed that the hat seemed to be arguing with non-Harry. Finally after another minute, the hat seemed to grudgingly call out "Gryffindor", to the applause of that table. The twins were doing their 'we got Potter' dance with half the table, and even Percy was joining in. Harry thought it odd as Percy hadn't been this excited the first time around. _'Curiouser and curiouser' _Harry thought.

Non-Harry stood and throwing his arms in the air, started running over to the lion's table which had again erupted in a roar of cheers. '_You have got to be kidding me!'_ Harry decided right there that, though he had a few too many things on his plate at the moment to unravel this latest mystery, he couldn't, as the true son of a marauder, pass up any opportunity to make this peacocks' life miserable.

Harry again snapped his fingers under the table, and this time non-Harry tripped and fell, face first, into the end of the table. There was an audible crunch as his nose broke on impact with the edge of the table. Several students jumped up to help non-Harry while Madam Pomfrey quickly made her way to his side, and began moving her wand in a complicated pattern.

_"Epskie"_ she said and his nose was righted. She then vanished the blood on his face and robes. "Mr. Potter, perhaps you should come to the hospital wing and let me check you over for further injuries."

Non-Harry refused quickly and moved to the table to take his seat a bit more sheepishly than when he had started. Madam Pomfrey watched him for a moment, trying to decide if she would drag him to the hospital regardless, but then decided to simply return to her seat at the head table and sit down.

Harry took a moment to look at the other teachers at the table. Headmistress McGonagall was looking surprised, yet pleased at where non-Harry had been sorted, and most of the rest of the teachers only had concerned looks on their faces. The exceptions were Snape, who had his face in his right hand in an attempt to cover up his almost giddy amusement at the humiliation the perceived son of his most hated rival had just experienced, and Quirell, who was looking at non-Harry with barely disguised anger. Harry thought it both odd and fortuitous that "Volde-Quirell" was here. Odd because even without Dumbledore's Philosopher's Stone scheme to draw him here, he was still here. Fortuitous because now he didn't have to go to Albania and hunt his wraith down and entrap it in the soul cube, which made getting rid of him that much easier.

The rest of the sorting went off without a hitch, but Harry noticed something else that was different from his last life. There were more students attending than had attended in his time. When he went through there were only 30ish students in his year, but now there seemed to be almost 50, with several new names he had not recognized before.

He turned to Professor Flitwick and got his attention. "Professor?"

"Yes Evan?"

"I'm a little surprised at the number of students being sorted. I had thought this class would be smaller due to the last war here in England."

"Ah yes, this is actually one of the smallest classes ever to attend Hogwarts. But Headmistress has taken it upon herself to reach out to all the families and ask them to send their children. There were also more than a few muggle-borns that she helped attend by giving them scholarships to pay for tuition, and buying their supplies for them. In one case from her own personal account."

Harry was surprised and more than a little heartened at how much Minerva cared for her students. _"Perhaps'_ he thought to himself _'a little help is in order.'_

"It is impressive to see such devotion to the students."

"Indeed it is. Since she took over after Albus died, she has revamped the curriculum, raised the standards of teaching, and brought back a few subjects that were no longer taught. I know she wants to do more, but the Board of Governors would only give her so much money."

Harry nodded in understanding. Money was usually at the bottom of a lot of things.

The sorting had finished with Blaise Zambini going to Slytherin, and Headmistress McGonagall stood to make some announcements.

"Before the feast begins, I have a few announcements. This year we are pleased to offer a couple new courses that have been added to the curriculum. Dueling will be taught once a week by Professor Flitwick, and is an optional course for third years and above. Wizarding Customs and Culture will also be taught once a week and will be hosted by Madam Longbottom and Madam Marchbanks, who have agreed to give a series of lectures together. This course is mandatory for all muggle-born students, and is optional to everyone else. Conversely, there will also be lectures highlighting Muggle Society and Customs that is required for all non-muggle-born students and optional for muggle-borns. This will be taught my Mr. Jones, who is a muggle-born himself, and lives and works in the muggle world."

"We are pleased to welcome back Professor Quirell from his sabbatical, and he will be taking the Defense against the Dark Arts position. Madam Hooch has been promoted to Athletics and Activities Director, and she has hired two assistants, who will be assisting her with Quidditch, broom racing, teaching flying, as well as I believe this year Ms. Higgins has informed me she will be teaching ball room dancing for those that are interested."

Harry thought that most of the girls looked very interested in this last announcement, while most of the boys simply turned a light shade of green, and tried to ignore the growing whispers in the hall.

"Lastly I wish to introduce you to Mr. Evan Jamison. Evan could you please stand up? Mr. Jamison has come to Hogwarts in a rather unique position. He is here to earn his masteries in Charms, Transfiguration and Runes and will be working with Professors Flitwick, Dante, and Babbling in an arrangement similar to an apprenticeship. He will be doing this four days a week, and on the other three he will be devoting himself to furthering himself towards becoming a master enchanter. "

Harry again sought out and found Susan at the Hufflepuff table and made eye contact with her. Her eyes were wide with understanding and she had a surprised look on her face. Harry smiled at her, and gave her a small wink. He was sure most everyone had seen it, but didn't care as most people wouldn't know who he was winking at.

"He will not be taking any classes to teach at this point, but will be having some set office hours where he will be available to help students in those three subjects. Thank you Mr. Jamison."

"Now I do have one other small matter that I need to address before we begin eating. There has been a rumor circulating for several years that Headmaster Dumbledore hid a rather unique treasure here at Hogwarts for safe keeping. I want to dispel those rumors for once and for all. The castle has been searched from top to bottom and I have poured over Albus Dumbledore's personal journals and have found no reference to any such treasure. So anyone with thoughts of finding this treasure and taking it for themselves will certainly be wasting their time. If anyone is caught doing such a thing, they will be punished accordingly. Mr. Filtch has an updated list of banned items on his office door, and reminds us all that there is to be no magic in the halls." Minerva smiled once again at the students. "With that said, let's eat!"

As she sat down, food began to appear on the table before them and everyone began filling their plates. _'At least that explains Volde-Quirell being here. I wonder where those rumors started, and how long ago?'_ Harry pondered while filling his own plate with chicken and roast potatoes.

Never having socialized with any of his teachers to any great extent outside of school, Harry was unsure of what to expect. He was pleasantly surprised at how casual and easy going his conversations went. He could tell the other professors were curious about him, and were including him in the small talk to get a better feel for him.

It was Professor Vector that finally broached the subject of his enchanting. "So Mr. Jamison. You are from Sydney correct?" Harry nodded and looked at her. "Any connection to Jamison Enchanted Goods in Sydney?"

"Yes, in fact I am the owner of JEG, and I do all the enchanting for the business." Several of the professors looked surprised.

Professor Snape openly scoffed. "An enchanter at eleven? Even the Potter brat isn't arrogant enough to claim that." He looked at Harry as if to challenge him.

Almost all of the head table was paying attention to the by play now, and were waiting to see how Harry would react.

Harry simply looked at Snape for a sort time, and then slowly reached up and picked up his knife while not taking his eyes off of Snape. Maintaining eye contact, Harry slowly started running his finger up and down the length of the knife. After the fifth pass of his hand along the knife, he set it back down upon the table, and returned to his meal.

Again Snape scoffed and made to look back to his own meal. It was then that he noticed the knife twitch. He frowned and continued to look at the knife and watched as two arms and two legs slowly grew out of the sides and bottom of the knife. When they were done growing, the knife slowly stood up and turned around. It seemed to be studying the occupants of the head table for a few minutes, then turned and gave a small bow to Harry and then walked across the table and jumped down onto the floor and made its way towards the Hufflepuff table. Once there it jumped up on the end of the table, surprising several of the first years seated near the end. Once it was on the table it reached out and pulled several small sparkling flowers out of the air and started giving them to the all the girls, as it walked down the length of the table. When it reached the far end of the table, it turned to Nymphadora Tonks and gave her a flower that changed the color of its petals to match her current hair color. Then turned and made its way back towards the head table.

"Impressive Mr. Jamison!" Professor Flitwick was delighted.

Snape scoffed one last time. "Useless parlor trick. What good is a knife that gives out flowers?" He continued eating.

"I'm sure it will help when I decide to start dating."

Snape again rolled his eyes. "Like I said, useless."

"Perhaps" Harry agreed with him, "But you aren't considering all the implications of an animated knife." Harry resumed eating, leaving the thought hanging in the air.

After a minute Snape asked in a rather annoyed tone "and what are those implications?"

Harry finished chewing his food and swallowed then turned to address him. "Imagine what could be accomplished with not just a knife, but a full set, or even several full sets of animated potions utensils that knew when to chop, slice, mash, and add ingredients to a potion? For that matter what a fully enchanted potions set could accomplish? If the enchanting is done properly, an enchanted potions set could almost brew a complete potion by itself. All you would need to do is set the ingredients in place for it. Thus freeing up time for a potions master who owned such a set. Time that could be spent researching and inventing new potions."

Everyone was silent while they digested this information. Finally Snape scoffed again. "Can't be done." He stated with no small amount of conviction. "Potion making is too subtle of a science for animated objects to handle."

"Come by my quarters Saturday and I'll let you watch my set brew pain relieving potions, and calming draught." Harry looked at Snape and saw him sneer. He knew he was about to be turned down. "I'll tell you what. If the potions don't turn out perfect, being judged by yourself and Madam Pomfrey, I will enchant you a number 4 cauldron to enhance the strength of any potion brewed in it."

Snape thought for a few minutes then he leaned back in his chair. "And if they are perfect? What do you get in return?"

Harry knew he had him hooked. "You teach me how to brew wolfsbane potion." Severus Snape was one of three potions masters who knew the recipe and how to brew it. Being able to brew it would give Harry an additional project he wanted to tackle eventually. He was curious what the potion would do when it was brewed in an enchanted cauldron.

Snape again was silent while he thought it over. "Not that I think you can do it Jamison, but that recipe is worth more than one enchanted cauldron." He did look thoughtful. "I will tell you what though. If you can brew those two potions with your enchanted toys" He watched as the knife finished it journey back to Harry and sat down on the edge of his plate. "Then I will teach you how to brew it. However, you will still enchant me a number four cauldron. If you fail, like I believe you will, you will enchant me a number four and a number eight cauldron. Agreed?"

Harry thought over the proposal for a few minutes. He knew he could make the potions, in fact, he had pepper-up potions brewing all day for his apothecary business back in Sydney. One of his goals was to get the potion, and he figured he would have to eventually deal with Snape to get it, and was prepared to trade a cauldron for it. "Agreed. 10 am on Saturday?"

"10 am, you will bring your equipment to my lab."

"No." Harry startled the potions master by refusing that condition. "My equipment stays in my lab, which you and anyone else who would like may visit."

"And where is your lab Mr. Jamison?" Snape was looking at him confusion. "Surely you don't expect us to travel to Sydney?"

"Of course not, my lab is in my trunk, which is in my pocket." Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see" Snape turned back to his food lost in thought.

The feast was soon over, and Headmistress McGonagall dismissed the students back to their dorms with a word of caution to get some sleep as classes started the next day.

"I will show you to your quarters Evan."

"Thank you Professor Flitwick." Harry held out his hand to his animated knife, which jumped up on his hand and climbed his way up his arm and took a seat on his shoulder.

Professor Flitwick watched in amusement. "How long will it last? The knife?"

Harry looked at the knife for a moment "It's permanent, so it will last until the knife is unmade."

Professor Flitwick seemed impressed and smiled even wider. "Excellent! It is a wonderful piece of work! I look forward to seeing what else you come up with while you are here."

In very short order they were standing in front of a door on the second floor in the same hall as several other teachers' quarters.

"These will be your quarters while you are here Evan. You may change the rooms to your liking, including decorating them as you choose. The back wall of your quarters faces west, so if you want you can put in some windows or a door and balcony. To set the password, simply put your hand on the name plate and state your password. You can also key others into the door to allow them in, by doing the same, and then having them put their hand on the name plate. Your office is located right next to mine on the third floor west wing." He checked to make sure Harry had gotten all of those instructions.

"Is there anything else you need tonight Evan?"

"No Professor, I think I have it all."

"Very good. Please remember to get me your schedule of office hours by the end of the week so that I can post it for the other students."

"Of course Professor, thank you."

Professor Flitwick nodded "All right then, if you're set, I will head to my own quarters which are right across the hall and down three doors, and see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Professor."

Harry watched him go, and then turned to his door. He reached up and put his hand on the name plate, and set his password, then opened the door and walked in. The room itself was actually quite a bit larger than he expected, but in reality it didn't matter, as he would be living out of his trunk while he was here. He decided he would figure out what to do about his quarters the next day as he was feeling pretty tired. Plus he was still adjusting to the time change from Sydney to England.

Harry looked to door to his quarters, and set a couple simple wards to keep unwanted guests out. He then took out his trunk and set it down. He touched his finger to his trunk and it resized to its original size. He was about to open the lid and climb in for some much needed sleep when he remembered the map. With a sigh he turned back around.

Harry closed his eyes and changed his cloak to a non-descript cloak and pulled the hood up. With another wave of his hand he cast a few charms to keep himself from being recognized. He then cast a disillusionment spell on himself and 'stepped' into the Gryffindor third year boys dorms. It was empty when he arrived, but he only had a moment to wait when the two young wizards he was looking for walked into the room with their friend Lee Jordan.

All three wizards stopped short, and looked at the cloaked figure before them. Harry took the initiative, and pointed to Lee. "Leave, I have business with these two."

Lee was apprehensive and wasn't sure what to do. He hesitated, but then turned and walked back out. "I'll just be outside the door. Call if you need me." With one last look he walked out the door, closing it behind himself.

Harry looked at the boys before him for a moment.

"You said"

"you had"

"business"

"with us?" Harry smiled at the twin speak. He had missed this about them.

Harry knew he could just take the map from them, and they would never know it. But he wanted to help them. Fred and George had always played it strait with Harry, and he had a desire to help them more this time around. He pulled out a leather bound book and a money bag. "You have something that my father and his friends created. I would like it. In return I will give you a copy of his and his friend's notes from their time in Hogwarts, and 100 galleons."

Fred and George looked at each other and then back at the book and the money bag.

"And just who"

"was your father?"

"Prongs" The twins were more than a little shocked, and stared at him for several seconds.

Finally the twin on the right spoke. "You want the map?"

"If you are the son of prongs"

"then the map belongs"

"to you, why pay for it?"

Harry knew they were rattled because their twin speak was just a little off. "Because I want to help the next generation of marauders, not hurt it. Do we have a deal?"

The twins eyed the money and the book for another moment. Then they both started nodding at the same time. "Deal!"

Harry handed them the money and the book, and received the map from them.

"Say chap!"

"would you"

"let us borrow"

"the map once"

"in a while?"

"I'll tell you what, I will make you a new one. In return, you will owe me three small favors of my choosing. Nothing too big, and nothing too against the rules. Favors involving pranking. Agreed?"

Again the twins didn't even need to look at each other to communicate, thus further confirming to Harry that they had some sort of telepathy between them. "Agreed." They both spoke at once.

"Thank you gentlemen, I will be in touch."

With that he 'stepped' away, leaving two very surprised red heads behind.

-DCM-

AN: There is now a poll up dealing with Nature of Magic. It's my first poll, so not sure if I did it right. Please let me know if I didn't.


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